American Football is enjoyed on more than one tier. While fans of the pros have the National Football League, fans of college football have their own leagues. Most schools of any size will at least have one sport; football is a popular one because a successful football team, particularly in the southern states, is a huge boon on prestige and enrollment. In some schools, it's the only men's sport - the federal Title IX requires equal amounts be spent on men's and women's athletics based on gross expenditure so a top-tier football program is a major resource hog by that standard even if the whole point of running it at that level is that it's a profit center for the school and the black from football makes up for the red most if not all of the other sports operate in. A collegiate football player's career begins in high school, with National Signing Day. Prospects, rated on a scale from one to five stars, are selected by the colleges of their choice and are given scholarships.

College football players are not allowed to be directly paid, and schools face harsh punishment if they are found to have paid their players, directly or indirectly. The University of Southern California was found guilty of providing "improper benefits" to football player Reggie Bush in 2004 and 2005, and as a consequence USC was required to forfeit all the games in which Bush appeared after receiving the gifts, including the 2005 national championship gamenote The governing body hasn't yet decided whether to strip USC of its championship, but according to official records, nobody won that game. If they do, the 2005 championship will remain vacant. The player himself was scrubbed from team records and university promotional materials. Many other schools have suffered similar fates, most infamously Southern Methodist, which is the only football program to have received the NCAA "death penalty", for over a decade of widespread payments to players. The combination of penalties (including two canceled seasons and 55 scholarships lost) and stigma (few players wanted to play for SMU after the scandal) was so damaging that it took 22 years before SMU, a former powerhouse, had its first winning season since the scandal (by which point none of the current players had even been born when the scandal broke), and the school still hasn't come anywhere near its former prominence.note After the scandal, SMU also significantly increased its academic standards for incoming athletes, which effectively took it out of the running for most of the types of players it had recruited in the past.

College football is played mostly on Saturdays, but there is at least one game every week on Thursday and Friday and often also Tuesday and/or Wednesday, and the opening week of the season sees the remaining two days of the week represented as well.note This is because the NFL, which traditionally carries those days, generally starts the week after Labor Day weekend, whereas the college football season usually starts the week leading up to it. As with high school football, the playing season is basically the same as the fall semester, but some schools will play a defense vs. offense team scrimmage in the spring to make sure the players are keeping themselves in shape. There is a "bye-week" for most teams to give them some mid-season rest, although some teams use a Thursday for this purpose instead, while others, such as Penn State, play the entire season through without a break. Virtually all college football games are sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The NCAA is divided into four divisions: Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A), Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA), Division II, and Division III. Each division, in turn, is divided into conferences of about a dozen teams who play most games amongst themselves. A handful of teams (most notably Notre Dame) are independent of any conference.

Division I FBS is the highest level of play and garners the most national attention. There is no officially sanctioned national football champion at this level, with the most widely acknowledged champions being chosen in polls of sportswriters or coaches, with a sole "national champion" being unofficially crowned if both polls agree and a split national championship if they don't. (Originally the sport was primarily played in a number of regional conferences that no one particularly bothered to organize into a coherent whole; the AP didn't start crowning a "national champion" until the 30s.) A number of "bowl games" are played between high-ranked teams at fixed sites in late December and early January, but they don't form any sort of organized tournament. (Originally the bowls were exhibitions; there wasn't even any polls taken after the bowls until the 60s.) The term "bowl game" comes from the earliest bowl, the Rose Bowl Game, which was named after the bowl-shaped stadium where it's played (which in turn got its name from Yale University's stadium, the Yale Bowl; the Rose Bowl was designed as simply a bigger version of the Yale Bowl...and in better climate since it's Pasadena, California). There have been a few systems that have attempted to pair up #1 and #2 ranked teams in a championship bowl game; complaining about the systems is in some circles as cherished a pastime as football itself. Currently, the system is known as the College Football Playoff (CFP), which replaced the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) starting with the 2014 season. The CFP involves six major bowl games, informally known as the "New Year's Six"; two of these games rotate as hosts of CFP semifinal games, with the semifinal winners going on to the College Football Playoff National Championship. Even though there is now a tournament to determine a national champion for FBS, the NCAA still does not recognize it as an official national championship, as it's not operated by that body.

The previous BCS system rotated a "BCS National Championship Game" among the sites of four major bowl games, and functioned as a theoretical national championship. This cut down dramatically on split titles since many of the polls are contractually obligated to vote the winner of that game #1 in the final ballot. Very few actually liked the BCS (more on that below), and there was much debate about a better system, with much of the deadlock about the large sums of money these bowl games made. While the BCS was replaced by the CFP in 2014, it inevitably garnered its share of critics before it was even implemented (see below).

The lower divisions of the NCAA actually have NCAA-operated national championship tournaments, and have for decades, but these divisions get little interest except from students and alumni of the participating schools themselves (along with NFL scouts, as many successful pro players have come from the lower-division schools), and sometimes not even then.

The rules of collegiate football are very similar to those detailed on the page about American football, so we won't go into them here save for the most basic explanation: 11 guys on offense, 11 guys on defense. Scoring is almost the same as in the professional leagues as well—the defending team can score a point on a blocked PAT and college overtime rules are complicatednote Each team starts a possession on the opposing team's 25 yard line. The first team posts a score (which can include 0 points), then the other team has to match it to continue OT or beat it to win; otherwise, the first team wins. After the 2nd possession for both teams, the PAT kick on a touchdown is banned; teams must go for two if they score a touchdown.. There are a few different rule changesnote The most obvious ones being that the game clock temporarily stops to move the chain on each first down, the NFL's iconic two-minute warning is not utilized, the ball carrier is down the moment his knee or body touches the ground instead of needing to be touched by a defender, receivers only need to get one foot in-bounds rather than two, and in a recently implemented change, a touchback puts the ball on the 25 yard line for kickoffs (but a touchback on punts is still the 20 yard line)., but nothing enough to disrupt the basic flow of the game.

While professional football players can ostensibly play as long as they like (10-15 year runs are not uncommon and 20 years is not unheard of, especially for kickers and punters since they tend not to get hit very often), a college football player's eligibility is more or less limited to four years. We say "more or less" because there is the option of redshirting, where a coach is allowed to stretch a player's eligibility to five years instead of four, with the stipulation that one of those years (most commonly the first, as many freshman are felt to be not quite ready for the collegiate level) will be spent sitting on the bench, and that the player not participate in any games (but can participate in practices, which is the origin of the name; such players traditionally wore a red jersey in practice). Extra redshirt seasons are occasionally granted in extreme cases of injury where a player is sidelined for multiple seasons. Finally, a college player has the option after he is three years out of high school, if he so decides, to forgo the rest of his collegiate eligibility and enter the NFL Draft early. Also, a player forfeits his eligibility in a sport if he accepts a salary to play the same sport (but not a different sport - mostly notably a few high-profile college footballers have played minor league baseballnote In the past, accepting pay for any sport would invalidate college eligibility for all sports, but that rule has since been discarded because it was a stupid rule.), accepts endorsements or signs with a sports agent. A player who leaves early for the NFL Draft but pulls out of the draft before it's held can apply for reinstatement of college eligibility, and the NCAA normally grants it. But once the draft has been held, it's too late even if he isn't drafted.

The Football Bowl Subdivision has quite a few teams, separated, as stated earlier, into a number of conferences. There are a total of 10 conferences in FBS, not including the various independents - such as Notre Dame. While you can find a list of these conferences further down the page, we also have a separate page with more information, including each league's current membership.

The only major independents are Notre Dame, which has had a legendary place in the history of college football (they're the only team, collegiate or otherwise, who have a national television contract for all home games, and still have more national championships than any other team, despite the most recent occurring in 1988) and is the traditional flagship team of American Catholicism (as Notre Dame is a Catholic school); Brigham Young University (BYU), recently quite good and the traditional flagship team of American Mormonism (BYU being a Mormon university); and Army, one of the service academy teams. The Army-Navy game serves as the traditional last game of the season, and it is still televised despite both service academies having been out of top 25 contention for decades; the service academies have very strict academic and physical requirements (specifically weight limits) that preclude the ability to compete with more forgiving civilian schools. (That hasn't stopped the Air Force from being in contention every now and then, but they're the Air Force.) In 2011, Brigham Young left the Mountain West Conference to become the 4th major independent team. After a major conference realignment that led to the Western Athletic Conference dropping football, Idaho and New Mexico State were left without a football conference and became the 5th and 6th independents in 2013—but were soon rescued by the Sun Belt Conference, which took them in as football-only members in 2014. Navy has played its final game as a football independent; they're joining the American Athletic Conference (the league formerly known as the Big East) for football only.

The Bowl Games

As stated above, college football system launched a true playoff system in 2014, with the survivor being recognized as national champions.note While the NCAA does not operate an FBS national championship, its record books list national champions crowned by various outside parties, including polls, computer rankings, historians, and the BCS. The season ends with numerous bowl games that are played between schools. The "New Year's Six" games associated with the CFP are:

Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl – The four games that were part of the BCS.

Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl – Added to the mix when the CFP began.

In the BCS era, the four major bowls were followed one week later by the BCS National Championship Game, which pitted the #1 and #2-ranked teams in the nation against each other. The NCG rotated between the stadiums of the four major bowls of that era. For the first 8 years of the BCS, one of the four BCS bowls was the championship game (rotating in the order listed above), but the 5th game was added in 2007. These games had (and still have) conference tie-ins, giving certain conference champions automatic invitations. The Rose Bowl invited the Pac-12 and Big Ten champions, the Orange Bowl invited the ACC champion, the Sugar Bowl invited the SEC champion and the Fiesta Bowl invited the Big 12 champion. All of these tie-ins still exist in the CFP era except for the Fiesta Bowl, whose Big 12 tie-in shifted to the Sugar Bowl. When a conference champion was unavailable due to playing in the national championship game, the runner-up traditionally took their place in the bowl game, although this was at the individual bowl's discretion and they were not strictly mandated to take the runner-upnote At one point the Rose Bowl was actually obligated to take the champion of a non-AQ conference that had guaranteed its spot the next time it lost one of its auto bids to the championship game; this agreement resulted in Big Ten champion Wisconsin facing Mountain West champion TCU in the 2011 game after Pac-12 (then Pac-10) champion Oregon was selected to the Championship Game. In addition to the conferences with tie-ins, the Big East champion was guaranteed a spot in a BCS bowl, but not in any specific one. These were the "Automatic Qualifying" conferences. The champion of a non-AQ conference could be guaranteed a spot if they were in the top 12 in the year's final BCS ranking, or the top 16 and is ranked higher than the champion of at least one AQ conference (in practice, usually the Big East). If more than one non-AQ champion meets those criteria, only the highest-ranking one is guaranteed a BCS bowl selection. Non-AQ teams who meet these qualifications are referred to as "BCS busters". If Notre Dame is in the top 8 of the final BCS ranking, they're guaranteed a BCS bowl. No conference could have more than two teams playing in BCS bowls, unless the two teams selected to the championship game were from the same conference and neither is the conference championnote Because then three teams from one conference would have auto bids—two as the top two teams and one as the conference champion. The only way this is even remotely possible would be if there was only one team still undefeated entering the week of conference championship games, and one of the other teams in the same division of the same conference was ranked #2 with their only loss coming against that lone undefeated team, and then the #1 team got upset in the conference championship game—and even then it was unlikely. Though this scenario actually had the potential to happen during the 2011 season, ultimately avoided by the #1 team not getting upset. If there were any berths remaining after these criteria are dealt with, and the team ranked third in the final BCS ranking is from one of the AQ conferences and is eligiblenote that is to say, there aren't already two teams from their conference who had bids to BCS games, they get a bid, and if this didn't fill the last bid and the #4 team in the final BCS rankings meets those same criteria, they're given a bid. If there are still any berths in BCS games left, any remaining eligible teams in the top 14 of the final BCS rankings can be given at-large bids to fill them, at the individual bowl's discretion, though if somehow there weren't enough eligible teams in the top 14, this can be extended to the top 18, then the top 22, and so on in increments of four until the bids were filled.

The second tier of games consists of lower profile bowls such as the Russell Athletic Bowlnote Formerly the Tangerine Bowl. Florida Citrus Bowl, and Capital One Bowl, Outback Bowlnote Formerly the Hall of Fame Bowl, Sun Bowlnote Briefly renamed the John Hancock Bowl, but reverted to its original name five years later, TaxSlayer Bowlnote Historically the Gator Bowl, and Alamo Bowl which are treated with some respect, but usually matchups among the teams in the middle of the pack of their conferences, with mid-major conference champions and major-conference runners-up making the occasional appearance. For many years prior to the implementation of the BCS, the Cotton Bowl was one of the top four bowl games, but was surpassed by the Fiesta Bowl and demoted to second-tier status by the time the BCS came around, mainly because of the condition of the Cotton Bowl stadium and heavy campaigning by the Fiesta Bowl contingent to up their game's reputation (and the fact that when the Big Eight became the Big 12, they switched their affiliation from the Cotton Bowl to the Fiesta Bowl). It long sought to regain its former status and become the fifth major bowl, and is now played in the showplace Cowboys Stadium (the world's largest dome stadium) to demonstrate this. The Cotton Bowl succeeded in this quest when it became one of the "New Year's Six" bowls of the College Football Playoff system. The Cotton Bowl stadium itself remains in use by the decidedly less tradition-filled Heart of Dallas Bowl. Like the BCS and CFP bowls, these second-tier bowls also have conference tie-ins, but for second or third-place teams in the conferences in question. All of the tie-ins are to the major conferences, making it exceptionally rare for a mid-major team to play in one of these bowls. Which of these games is the most prestigious is debatable. While the Cotton Bowl has strongest tradition and retains its famous name, the Russell Athletic Bowl has the largest cash payout of any non-CFP bowl; the Chick-fil-A Bowl, which reverted to its historic name of Peach Bowl when it became part of the New Year's Six, usually had the best attendance among non-BCS bowls in the BCS era.

The lower tier of bowl games exists solely as cash grabs and Padding for ESPN during the traditionally quiet holiday week in sports, and the stadiums and cities the games are played in (until ESPN grabbed a monopoly on most bowl games in the 1990's, most of these games were still few and far between, aired on syndicated broadcast television and were special). If there was a playoff in college football, the teams in these bowls would be blown out of the first round of the playoffs by the top teams or not even make it, as they usually have records which are only one game above .500 (if that)note However, since most bowls have a lot of discretion in who they invite, and how much money the bowl thinks they'll make is often the deciding factor rather than trying to get the best team, sometimes actual good teams will get screwed over by the higher-tier bowls and get forced to settle for beating the hell out a scrub team in a bottom-tier bowl. Common victims of this are schools like Boise State, which usually wins its bowl games but is considered a less attractive choice because, being from tiny Idaho, they have a relatively small fanbase.. These games are usually sponsored by Names to Run Away From Really Fast, such as the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, Quick Lane Bowlnote Successor to the Motor City Bowl, later known as the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texasnote Formerly the Texas Bowl, the Foster Farms Bowlnote Formerly the Diamond Walnut Bowl; then the Emerald Bowl, which sounds innocuous but was actually named for Emerald Nuts; and still later the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowlnote Formerly the MPCComputers.com Bowl and the Humanitarian Bowl, the Belk Bowlnote Formerly the Queen City Bowl, Continental Tire Bowl and Meineke Car Care Bowl, the TicketCity Cactus Bowlnote Formerly the Copper Bowl, Insight.com Bowl, Insight Bowl, and Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, the Duck Commander Independence Bowlnote Historically just the Independence Bowl, notable only because the 1982 edition was the first college football game ever broadcast by ESPN. or the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowlnote Historically the St. Petersburg Bowl, and later the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl St. Petersburg. Many of these bowls used to have less embarrassing names, before the trend of sponsors using their own name as the sole name of the bowl instead of just tagging their name in front of the bowl name (something near-universally loathed by football fans) came aboutnote This also means that when a sponsorship expires, the bowl will pick up an entirely new name. Which means that in addition to all their other shortcomings, these bowls also don't even have a consistent identity. These games are solely of interest to the universities playing only (or will be a future Old Shame if your team is invited to the not-very-prestigious-at-all GoDaddy Bowlnote Formerly the GMAC Bowl), and about the only accomplishment to be earned by the players outside of a free unwanted trip to Detroit, Boise, Shreveport, Louisiana or Birmingham, Alabama is a Cosmetic Award which means nothing. Unless the team lucks out and gets invited to the Hawaii Bowl or the Bahamas Bowl. There now so many lower tier bowl games that a majority of FBS teams will play in a bowl game every year, a fact widely ridiculed by fans. In the 2010–11 season, there was even some worry that there wouldn't be enough bowl eligible teamsnote A team must win at least half of its game to be bowl eligible. to play all the bowl games, which would have required teams with losing records to be invited to fill the remaining slots; two years later, this worry resurfaced when four separate teams ended up on postseason bans at once and all four would've otherwise been bowl eligible including one that went undefeated. While ultimately this didn't happen, it illustrates what a meager accomplishment being invited to a minor bowl has become. Once again, there are conference tie-ins for these bowls, but they tend to be a lot less strictly enforced than in higher-tier bowls (especially since a conference might not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all its tie-ins, but also because a major conference probably doesn't care all that much about the tie-in for its 6th place team and a minor conference lacks the influence to do anything about it if their tie-in is ignored). Since non-AQ conferences' tie-ins are exclusively with the bottom-tier bowls, non-AQ champions are almost always stuck in these bowls, but with exceptional seasons they can become BCS busters and jump all the way to the top four bowls.note Utah in 2004 (beat Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl), Boise State in 2006 (beat Oklahoma in an epic Fiesta Bowl), Hawaii in 2007 (curbstomped by Georgia in the Sugar Bowl), Utah in 2008 (beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl), Boise State and TCU in 2009 (controversially matched against one another in the Fiesta Bowl, which BCS critics declared the "Separate But Equal Bowl", with Boise State winning), TCU again in 2010 (beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl), and Northern Illinois in 2012 (thrashed by Florida State in the Orange Bowl). Two of these schools later joined AQ conferences—Utah joined what would become the Pac-12 in 2011, and TCU joined the Big 12 in 2012.

Obviously, as stated above, it's far from perfect, but it's also difficult for fans to agree on what exactly would constitute a fair playoff system. (Not to mention the difficulty in untangling the tens of millions of dollars in contracts made between the power conferences and the bowls themselves.) Oh, and the discussion is Serious Business. Even the United States Congress has gotten involved in recent years, in college football's own version of Executive Meddlingnote In the Congress' defense, trainloads of money are involved, which can have a huge effect on local and state economies. There's also some definite examples of corruption among the bowls, and the executives of the ostensibly non-profit organizations that run them get ludicrously huge salaries., with some members proposing a law that would ban the BCS from being advertised as a "national championship" unless it were converted to a playoff system. To the surprise of very few, the most vocal proponents of this idea were Congressmen whose local schools were perceived as having been "screwed" by the BCS. There are pro-BCS and anti-BCS parties, and while the sheer fatigue from injuries might make an elaborate playoff difficult (though lower-division schools manage it), most feel something has to happen.

Things finally came to a head at the end of the 2011 season, when the BCS selected LSU and Alabama, two teams from the same conference (and even the same division of that conference, meaning that officially one of them was the third place team of the conference), as the #1 and #2 participants in the championship game, thus effectively snubbing every other conference in the entire FBS. After this, discussion of implementing a playoff system accelerated greatly and, after numerous negotiations between the "power" conferences, a brand new "College Football Playoff" model was formally drawn up and was adopted beginning in the 2014 season to replace the BCS. The new four-team playoff model features the teams being chosen by a selection committee (as in the NCAA basketball tournament) instead of by polls. The sites for the first two semifinal games are played at existing bowl sites (to be rotated between the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta, Cotton, and Peach Bowls), and the Championship game is awarded to a city based on a bid, much in the same way that the Super Bowl location is decided. Things are still not entirely rosy however. Almost immediately after its announcement, the new system was met with various criticisms from fans, ranging from concerns that the new selection committee would be no more unbiased in selecting teams as the old BCS formula (which mixed human polls with a set of complicated computer algorithms that nobody outside the programmers actually understands) to complaints that having only 4 teams compete is nowhere near enough to fairly decide a true champion in the 128-team FBSnote FCS and Division II each have 24-team playoffs, while Division III has a 32-team playoff, significantly more than anyone has seriously suggested for FBS. NAIA has a 16-team playoff. Thus, it's been demonstrated that leagues with considerably less resources than FBS can handle a larger playoff.. The TV deals for this new system extend through the 2025 season, so any hope of expanding the playoff to 8 or 16 teams is a ways down the road.

Different Levels

Not all American universities, that sponsor varsity football, play within the bowl system. The NCAA has three divisions and Divisions II and III actually have a normal football playoff system. Likewise, Division I has a special subdivision called the "Football Championship Subdivision,"note Previously, the "Football Bowl Subdivision" and "Football Championship Subdivision" were called Division I-A and Division I-AA. These names are still often used unofficially, as many fans find the new names clunky and stupid. The abbreviations "FBS" and "FCS" are also used more often than the full names due to not sounding quite as lame. where Division I schools, that don't want to put as much emphasis on football as their larger cousins, can play. The current all-divisions record holder for most consecutive winning seasons is Division III's Linfield College, currently at 57. Each of these have their own playoff system to determine a national champion. While most regular season games are done within a division, several teams will play one or two games outside of their division. Teams in the NCAA's Divisions II and III sometimes even play non-NCAA teams. Playing lower-division teams isn't without its risks; when a highly regarded FBS team loses to an FCS team (such as the infamous defeat of then #5 ranked University of Michigan by FCS opponent Appalachian State in 2007, quite possibly the biggest upset in college football history), they become a national laughing stock.note Amazingly, Michigan scheduled Appalachian State (a traditional FCS powerhouse that won three consecutive playoff championships in 2005-2007) again for the 2014 season; however, Appalachian State had become a transitional FBS member by then. Michigan won easily this time around. Also, only one FCS win can count toward bowl eligibility for an FBS team, meaning that if a team schedules two such games they'll need to have at least a 7-5 record instead of 6-6 to qualify for a bowl. By design, this usually discourages FBS teams from playing against more than one FCS team per year. Despite the great majority of these games resulting in a win for the higher-division team, the lower division schools are happy to play them because the higher-division team invariably pays them a lot of money to do it.

There are also smaller college sports organizations outside of the NCAA, including the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the National Junior College Athletic Association.note A "junior college" is a 2-year school attended mostly by people who can't attend a 4-year school due to either poor academic performance in high school or inability to afford the more expensive tuition of a 4-year college. The latter is generally not an issue for football players, who usually have tuition paid by scholarship. Upon graduation, junior college students can transfer to a 4-year college to complete their degree, and usually do. While these organizations are greatly overshadowed by the NCAA, several NAIA and NJCAA football players have gone on to play in the NCAA and/or the NFL.

Conferences

As in most American college sports, college football teams are divided into regional athletic conferences. These conferences determine most of a team's schedule, and winning a conference is an easy way to get into a major bowl game.

Within the FBS, there are ten conferences, but not all conferences are created equal. The NCAA officially divides the conferences into two tiers: the Big Five and the Group of Five. Big Five conferences are bigger and more competitive, and the winners of these conferences are guaranteed qualification to one of the six top-level bowl games. Depending on their conference, this will be the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, or Orange Bowl, unless that bowl is hosting a national semifinal game. Group of Five conferences are considered more like mid-major conferences; they're smaller, not as well known, and not as likely to win championships. Only one Group of Five conference winner is automatically given a shot at a major bowl game, either the Cotton Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, or the Peach Bowl. The other five teams to play in those bowls are selected by committee.

The Big Five conferences are...

The Atlantic Coast Conference, which started out as a conference covering the Carolinas and Virginia, but has since extended out to cover teams from all over the East Coast as far north as Boston College and as far south as UMiami. It now has spread well beyond the East Coast to include Louisville for all sports and Notre Damenote in Indiana for most sports apart from football. Notre Dame isn't officially part of any football conference, but it is considered connected to the ACC due to that school's full but non-football membership. The ACC champion is guaranteed a spot in the Orange Bowl, and Notre Dame also has a chance to get in the Orange Bowl, depending on the year.

The Big Ten, which covers the Midwest and, for some reason (OK, this reason), includes members in the distinctly non-Midwestern states of Maryland and New Jersey. It's the oldest conference of the NCAA, dating back all the way to the 1890s. Confusingly, it has fourteen member teams. The Big Ten champion is guaranteed a spot in the Rose Bowl. While the conference has many storied schools, the best-known are arguably current national champions Ohio State and its eternal rivalMichigan.

The Big 12 mostly consists of teams from Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska, but now includes teams from Iowa and West Virginia, the latter of which is nowhere near any of the other states with Big 12 teams. It's the newest of the major conferences, having been formed when two other conferences merged into one. Unlike the other Big Five conferences, the Big 12 determines its champion based on the best record, not a conference championship game. The Big 12 champion is guaranteed a spot in the Sugar Bowl, with the second team potentially going to the Orange Bowl. Just to make things confusing, the Big 12 has ten teams. Yes, the Big Ten has 14 teams (12 from 2011 to 2014) and the Big 12 has ten. No, that doesn't make any sense. Don't think about it too hard.

The Pacific-12 Conference, or the 'Pac-12, as it's usually called, covers the entire West Coast, as well as Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. It's currently considered the second-strongest conference in the NCAA, and the Pac-12 champion plays the Big Ten champion in the Rose Bowl. Oregon is currently the flagship team of the conference, known for its flashy offense and flashier uniforms.

The Southeastern Conference, better known as the SEC, is considered far and away the strongest college football conference. As with all the other conferences, its name isn't 100% geographically accurate, since it has teams from Missouri and eastern Texas. The SEC is home to some of the biggest rivalries, coaches, and players in all of college football right now, especially the SEC West division, to the point that from 2007, the year the BCS National Championship Game was established as separate from any other bowl game, to the end of the BCS system, there was at least one SEC team playing every year, and it wasn't until the last of those that a non-SEC team won. In fact, the reason the BCS finally collapsed was that the 2012 championship paired two SEC West teams against each other, which caused chaos with scheduling other bowl matchups and demonstrated how poorly designed the BCS really was.

The Group of Five conferences are...

The American Athletic Conference is considered the successor to the Big East, which collapsed due to instability, but unlike the Big East, it isn't considered a power conference. Geographically, its members are all over the place; most are from the old Big East, but it also includes teams from Texas and Oklahoma. Navy, located in the old Big East footprint, will join for football only in 2015.

Conference USA, which includes teams from all over the South. Its membership has shifted more towards the Sun Belt as conference realignments changed up its membership. Right now, its most notable team is Marshall University, whose hopes for a "New Year's Six" bowl vanished when they suffered their first loss of the 2014 season to Western Kentucky in their last game before the conference title game. Even before the loss, they were still behind a two-loss Boise State team in the CFP rankings.note Significant because only the top-ranked conference champion from a Group of Five league is assured of a place in the "New Year's Six" bowls.

The Mid-American Conference, which covers the Great Lakes area. Also has an outlier for football only in Massachusetts, but that team is effectively being kicked out after the 2015 season.

The Mountain West Conference, which includes teams from the Mountain West, a few California teams, and even a team in Hawaii (though that team is only a member in football). It's the youngest of the conferences, having started up in 1999. Its most notable member at the moment is Boise State, which earned a reputation in the late 2000's for performing on par with power conference teams and getting into major bowls. And also for its blue football field.

The Sun Belt Conference, like the SEC and Conference USA, is mostly located in the South, but for football only, it includes the distinctly not-Southern state of Idaho (as well as the more Southwestern, but still "Sun Belt", state of New Mexico).

Rivalries

While all sports have bitter rivalries, college football tends to have the most pronounced ones in American sports. Some of the more notable have been mentioned above. Rivalries will most commonly feature two teams within a state (like Auburn vs. Alabama), teams whose states border one another (like Texas vs. Oklahoma), and ones with historical significance (like Army vs. Navy).

The following are all notable rivalries. Most feature teams that are frequently in the top 25, and therefore, more likely to put up a good game.

Harvard vs. Yale (The Ur Example, though no longer of much importance except to students at the respective schools. Formerly known as "The Game"note still known as such by Harvard and Yale students until the more relevant Ohio State vs. Michigan rivalry usurped that name.)

Army vs. Navyvs. Air Force (For the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy; Another one of the oldest rivalries, and still going strong. The Army-Navy Game is traditionally the last regular-season game of the year, making it a big draw even when, as is usually the case in the modern era, neither team is nationally relevant.)

Auburn vs. Alabama ("The Iron Bowl"note It used to be played in Birmingham, a city known as a major hub of the steel industry.)

Texas vs. Oklahoma ("The Red River Rivalry"note Formerly the "Red River Shootout", with the old name still frequently used by fans. The Red River forms much of the border between the two states.) - played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, which is almost exactly halfway between the two campuses. Was a non-conference game for decades until becoming a conference rivalry starting in 1996.

Ohio State vs. Michigan ("The Game" - voted the #1 rivalry in North American sports by ESPN in 2000.) The final game of their regular season since 1935, and before the expansion of the conference and advent of divisional play it was usually the de facto Big Ten championship game. Like many big rivalries, this one grew out of existing animosity between the bordering states.note Specifically, the "Toledo War", a dispute over ownership of the economically vital Great Lakes port of Toledo. Ohio got Toledo, but Michigan's had the upper hand in the football rivalry.

Oh, we don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan The whole state of Michigan, the whole state of Michigan We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan We're from O-hi-o!

Wisconsin vs. Minnesota ("Paul Bunyan's Axe") and the oldest annual rivalry in FBS football — these teams have played every year since 1907.

Florida vs. Georgia ("The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party"note Officially the "Florida vs. Georgia Football Classic" or "Georgia vs. Florida Football Classic" on a rotating basis depending on who the designated home team is (Except for two years since 1933, it's always played on a neutral site, so there's no true home team; however, the series was played at the teams' home stadiums in 1994 and 1995 while Everbank Field was being constructed on the footprint of the former Gator Bowl Stadium). The schools, the SEC, the NCAA and sportscasters have all tried and failed to remove "Cocktail" from the nickname, seeing it as promoting underage drinking of alcohol.) - Played on a theoretically neutral field in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Pac-12 divides neatly into six regional groupings, providing for many natural rivalries.

California (Berkeley) vs. Stanford ("The Big Game"; see also "The Play." Often considered the modern version of Harvard vs. Yale, being played between a pair of very academically prestigious schools... but unlike Harvard and Yale, they still frequently play good football.)

Oregon vs. Oregon State ("The Civil War")

Washington vs. Washington State (The Apple Cup) note Washington is of course famous for its apples. The Cascade Mountains keep everything civil during most of the year, with UW fans to the west and WSU fans to the east. Many Washington fans consider Oregon to be their true rival, similarly to how Michigan treats the Michigan State rivalry but not as acute.

Arizona vs. Arizona State ("The Duel in the Desert," notable for being played for the Territorial Cupnote So named because when it was instituted, the schools were in the Arizona Territory, which wouldn't become a state for another 13 years. Arizona State was at the time called Tempe Normal School ("normal school" meaning a college for the training of teachers), as being located in a territory it by definition couldn't be a "state university.", which has been certified as the oldest rivalry trophy in college football, having first been awarded in 1889.note Back in 1889 Arizona State was the Arizona Territorial Normal School football team and were awarded the first Territorial Cup after winning the Arizona Territorial Football League Championship after defeating the Phoenix Union High School, the Phoenix Indian School and the University of Arizona. The first game in its modern incarnation, played solely between UA and what would later become ASU, was played in 1899.)

Colorado vs. Utah (The "Rumble in the Rockies") – Had been one of the hottest rivalries in the West for the first half of the 20th century, but stopped after 1962. Revived in 2011 when Colorado and Utah joined the Pac-12 and were placed in the same football division.

West Virginia vs. Pittsburgh ("The Backyard Brawl", although after WVU left to join the Big 12 Conference in 2012, this series did not continue) note The two campuses are less than a two-hour drive away from each other. WVU also draws a significant number of students from the Pittsburgh area.

Kansas vs. Missouri ("The Border War"/"Border Showdown"note Refers to the conflict between the states over slavery before and during the The American Civil War, a history that even in recent years has been directly referenced by the schools' students. Some Missouri students infamously had T-shirts made in 2007 that depicted the burning of Lawrence, Kansas with the text "Scoreboard" underneath, with a quote by pro-slavery militant William Quantrill (who carried out the burning) on the back. Kansas students responded by making their own T-shirts featuring an image of abolitionist leader John Brown with the text "Kansas: Keeping America Safe From Missouri Since 1854." The tamer "Border Showdown" name was introduced in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, on the premise that it was inappropriate to refer to a sporting event as a "war" when the nation was actually at war...despite the old name having been used through every other war the United States fought in the past century. Like most attempts to rename rivalries, it never caught on. Former Kansas coach Don Fambrough responded to the attempted renaming by saying "It's a goddamn war. And they started it!") - Dates back to 1891, and grew out of the considerable animosity that already existed between the states. Though it had been played for 120 years, interrupted only by the 1918 flu pandemic, the annual rivalry ended when Missouri left the Big 12 for the SEC. Inevitably, fans of each school accused the other of having "surrendered".

Mississippi State vs. Ole Miss ("The Battle For The Golden Egg"/"The Egg Bowl") note The "Golden Egg" is the official name of the trophy, first awarded in 1927, consisting of a football-shaped brass piece attached to a wood base. The "Egg" name came about years later—footballs in the 1920s had a much more ovoid and blunt shape than those used today, which means that to more modern eyes, the trophy resembles a large egg.

Miami note the University of Miami in Florida, not Miami University, which is in Oxford, Ohio and also has a popular but usually less powerful FBS team vs. Florida State - in addition to being a cross-state rivalry, both teams often vie for the ACC championship

Florida vs. Florida State - Traditionally the last game of their regular season every year.

Georgia vs. Georgia Tech ("Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate") Played every year since 1925.

University of Virginia vs. Virginia Tech (Battle for the Commonwealth Cup) note Virginia is legally known as the "Commonwealth of Virginia."

Colorado vs. Colorado State ("The Rocky Mountain Showdown")

Tennessee vs. Alabama ("The Third Saturday in October"note An Artifact Title, as in the last decade it's usually been played on the fourth Saturday in October.) - Notable for having long winning streaks by whichever team is ascendant in a given decade.

Tennessee vs. Florida - One of the newer rivalries, but for most of the 1990s it was the de facto SEC championship game. With both teams having declined since then, it's become lower-profile nationally but remains bitterly contested.

Southern Methodist and Texas Christian — both are in the same metro area and both are affiliated with different Protestant denominations (SMU with the United Methodist Church and TCU with the Disciples of Christ). The prize is the Iron Skillet. TCU (Fort Worth) has been more victorious since 1987, since SMU's (Dallas) infamous Death Penalty judgment.

Auburn vs. Georgia ("The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry") - First played in 1892 and became an annual game in 1898. But interruptions for World War I and World War II prevented it from being the oldest annual rivalry.

LSU vs. Arkansas ("The Battle for the Golden Boot"note The winner brings home the "Golden Boot", a massive solid-gold trophy shaped like a map of Arkansas and Louisiana, thus roughly resembling a boot.)

Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State ("Bedlam Series"note Actually originated as a rivalry between the schools' wrestling teams, with the name derived from raucous home crowds at OSU's arena. But between football being a much higher-profile sport and OSU's utter domination in wrestling, the football rivalry has become the main attraction.)

Texas vs. Texas A&M ("Lone Star Showdown"note They're the two largest schools in Texas, the Lone Star State.) - Dates back to 1894 and is a long-standing traditional Thanksgiving Day game, but like the Border War it may be ending because of conference realignment. With A&M leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, Texas has said they have no room on their schedule for the game until 2018 at the earliest. Both fanbases seem to simultaneously blame the other school for the ending of the game as if this is a bad thing, and then claim they didn't really want to play it that much anyway. A significantly less tradition-filled game between Texas and either Baylor or Texas Tech (or TCU since their joining the Big 12) has for the time being stood in for Thanksgiving.

Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (An old Southwest Conference rivalry that was recently revived as a non-conference game played in Arlington, and is now entrenched annually as Texas A&M joined the SEC and was placed in the same football division as Arkansas)

TCU vs. Baylor (Another old Southwest Conference rivalry with the added enmity that Baylor allegedly played politics to keep TCU out of the Big 12.note Then-Texas Governor Ann Richards was a Baylor alum and had allegedly lobbied heavily to allow Baylor to join the new conference over other potential schools from the SWC. With TCU joining the Big 12, this rivalry has now come full circle.)

Kentucky vs. Louisville (The Governor's Cup) – Although hard-fought on the football field, this matchup is much better known as a men's basketball rivalry. This is a relatively recent rivalry—after the first half of the 1920s, UK steadfastly refused to schedule U of L in either sport for decades. The modern basketball rivalry began in 1983 (after no regular-season games for over 60 years), but the modern football rivalry had to wait until 1994, after a 70-year absence.note Perhaps not coincidentally, U of L's head coach when the football rivalry resumed, Howard Schnellenberger, had played at UK.

North Carolina vs. Virginia ("The South's Oldest Rivalry", which has been played since 1892, continuously since 1919)

Florida State vs. Virginia (awarding the "Jefferson-Eppes Trophy"note Named after Thomas Jefferson, founder of UVA, and Francis Eppes, his grandson and founder of FSU.)

College Football Individual Awards

A list of the major awards for college football players presented annually. There are several governing bodies in charge of selecting the various award winners, so some of the awards may seem a little repetitive in terms of what the award stands for. (Ex. the Heisman, Archie Griffin, Maxwell, and Walter Camp awards all being practically the same.)

Heisman Memorial Trophy Award (aka "The Heisman"): The top award a college football player can hope to receive. It is given out annually to the "most outstanding" player in college football. It is also the oldest award on the list, with the first being presented in 1935. While any player at any position is eligible to win the award, it has historically been awarded to Quarterbacks and Running Backs by a wide margin. The winner is chosen by voters consisting of "informed, competent, and impartial" sports writers along with every living recipient of the award also getting a vote.

Archie Griffin Award: While the Heisman is given to the "most outstanding" player, the Archie Griffin award is given to the "most valuable" player in college football. (Which, unsurprisingly, is also frequently the Heisman winner.)

Bronko Nagurski Trophy: Award given to the best defensive player in college football.

Buck Buchanan Award: Award given to the best defensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of college football.

Burlsworth Trophy: The "youngest" award of the list (starting in 2010), which is given to the most outstanding player who began his college career as a "walk-on" (not offered a scholarship).

Butkus Award: Award traditionally given to the top linebacker in college football. Starting in 2008, the award has expanded to include a professional and high school player each year as well.

Chic Harley Award: Also known as the "College Football Player of the Year" award. Like the Archie Griffin Award, it is not uncommon for the winner of the Heisman to win this award as well.

Davey O'Brien Award: Award given to the best Quarterback in college football. Whenever a quarterback wins the Heisman, there is a good chance that he will win this award as well.

Doak Walker Award: Award given to the best Running Back in college football. Whenever a running back wins the Heisman, there is a good chance that he will win this award as well.

Fred Biletnikoff Award: Award given to the best Wide Receiver in college football.

Gagliardi Trophy: Award given to the "most outstanding" player in Division III football.

Gene Upshaw Award: Award given to the best lineman, offensive or defensive, in Division II football.

Harlon Hill Trophy: Award given to the "most valuable" player in Division II football.

Jim Thorpe Award: Award given to the top defensive back in college football.

John Mackey Award: Award given to the "most outstanding" tight end in college football.

Johnny Unitas Award: Award given to the best quarterback who has spent at least four seasons in college football (i.e., either a senior or a redshirt junior). Originally, only seniors were eligible, but redshirt juniors have been added, probably because many top QBs now leave for the NFL before their fourth season.

Manning Award: Another award given to the best quarterback in college football; named after the Manning quarterbacking family.note Archie and his sons Peyton and Eli Whenever a QB wins the Heisman, there is a good chance that he will win this award as well. Unlike most college football awards, it's given after the bowl games.

Lou Groza Award: Award given to the top placekicker in college football.

Maxwell Award: Award given to the "best football player in the United States." Predictably, the winner of this award is also frequently the Heisman winner as well.

Outland Trophy: Award given to the best "interior lineman" in college football. This includes any offensive linemen, as well as defensive tackles.

Ray Guy Award: Award given to the top punter in college football.

Walter Camp Award: Award given to the college football "player of the year." Predictably, the winner of this award is also frequently the Heisman winner as well.

Walter Payton Award: Award given to the "most outstanding" offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of college football. Originally given to the most outstanding player on either side of the ball, but restricted to offensive players since the Buchanan Award was established in 1995.

Names to know in College Football (alphabetical in category, by last name)

Bobby Bowden: While he had early-career gigs at Samford and West Virginia, he's most famous for his long tenure at Florida State (1976–2009), building the school into a national powerhouse. He won two national titles at FSU, and also had 14 consecutive 10-win seasons (1987–2000). Broke Bear Bryant's record for most wins as an FBS head coach., ending with 377 (not counting 12 wins vacated by the NCAA).

Paul "Bear" Bryant: Was the legendary head coach of Alabama for 25 years in the 60s and 70s. He won 6 national titles in his time as coach, while also serving as the school's athletic director. His 323 wins were the most ever by a Division I head coach when he retired. One of the many awards for the National Coach of the Year bears his name.

John Gagliardi: The winningest coach in college football history by wins, regardless of division. Began his head coaching career in 1949 at NAIA school Carroll College in Montana. He then went to Saint John's of Minnesota, an NCAA D-III school, in 1953, and stayed there for 60 seasons, finally retiring in 2012 with 489 total wins. The award for the top D-III player bears his name.

Larry Kehres: The winningest coach in college football history by percentage, regardless of division. Coached at D-III Mount Union in Ohio from 1986 to 2012, also serving as AD in his final years on the sidelines. Holds all-division records for winning percentage (.929), national titles (11), unbeaten regular seasons (21), and conference titles (23, with the last 21 of them being in succession).

Joe Paterno: An institution at Penn State for over 60 years, arriving as an assistant in 1950 and becoming head coach in 1966, JoePa won two national titles, had five unbeaten seasons, won 24 bowl games, and amassed an FBS record of 409 career wins. However, his once-pristine image was badly tarnished in 2011 with the revelation that the school had covered up the sex crimes of former assistant Jerry Sandusky for more than a decade. He was fired during the season, died only two months later, and had all 111 wins between 1998 and his firing stricken from the record books by the NCAA, giving Bowden the record for most FBS wins. The wins were restored in January 2015, once again making him the winningest FBS coach, after it came out that the NCAA had, shall we say, bent its own rules to the breaking point in the Sandusky investigation.

Eddie Robinson: Was the legendary head coach at Grambling, a historically black school in Louisiana, from World War II until the 1990s. Won 17 conference titles and nine black college national titles, and ended his career with 408 wins, at the time the most in college history at any level (now third behind Gagliardi and Paterno).

Knute Rockne: A Norwegian immigrant raised in Chicago, Rockne was the main builder of Notre Dame's football tradition, leading the Fighting Irish to three national titles in his 13 seasons (1918–1930) and also relentlessly publicizing Notre Dame football throughout the country. He also popularized the forward pass, and is also famous for the "Win one for the Gipper" locker-room speech. His winning percentage of .881 is the highest in major-college history, and second only to Kehres among those with at least 10 seasons as a head coach at any level. Rockne's death in a plane crash during the 1931 offseason led to an outpouring of national grief comparable to the death of a U.S. president, with his funeral drawing tens of thousands and being broadcast on radio worldwide. The public reaction to his death was also credited with launching a safety revolution in commercial aviation.

Quarterbacks

Eric Crouch: A record holding QB for Nebraska who won the 2001 Heisman Trophy (in one of the closest votes ever, narrowly beating out Rex Grossman and Ken Dorsey,) as well as being one of the last great "option" quarterbacks in major college football.

Ty Detmer: Was a record-shattering passer for BYU and winner of the 1990 Heisman Trophy. Was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Doug Flutie: Won the 1984 Heisman Trophy playing for Boston College. Is probably best remembered for his "Hail Mary" touchdown pass to defeat Miami, which is frequently rated as one of the greatest plays in college football history. Went on to have a successful professional career as well in the CFL and NFL.

Matt Leinart: Won a National Championship with USC as well as the 2004 Heisman Trophy. Had an incredibly successful career at USC as part of what is widely considered one of the most talented football teams ever from 2003-2005. Was an NFL first round pick but failed to live up to his college career, being considered one of the bigger NFL Draft "busts" of all time.

Archie Manning: College Football Hall of Famer who had a legendary career at Ole Miss. Was a Heisman finalist twice, falling just short both times. Went on to have a moderately successful pro career and is better known nowadays as the father of Peyton and Eli Manning. A member of the NCAA College Football Playoff Selection Committee, though he took a leave of absence for the second half of the 2014 regular season, citing health reasons.

Kellen Moore: Was the quarterback of the perennial "BCS Buster" Boise St. Broncos of the late 2000s. Though significantly undersized compared to most high level NCAA QBs, he ended his college career as one of the winningest QBs in history, and the winningest at the FBS level.

Davey O'Brien: A legendary QB for TCU, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1939. He set a number of records during his college career, a few of which still stand to this day (such as fewest interceptions per passes thrown). The award given annually to the best quarterback in college football bears his name.

Tim Tebow: Two-time BCS Championship winning QB for Florida and winner of the 2007 Heisman Trophy. He is one of the great running QBs in NCAA history, with a unique style of preferring to plow through defenders like a fullback (most running quarterbacks are more agile and try to avoid hits). Went on to a brief, somewhat controversial NFL career. Has since returned to college football as an analyst for the SEC Network.

Vince Young: Won the 2005 BCS National Championship with Texas and was runner-up in Heisman voting to Reggie Bush (who was later stripped of the award.) Is considered one of the greatest players in Texas' storied history, as well as one of the greatest ever in NCAA history. He was drafted 3rd overall into the NFL but after some initial success, is considered a borderline draft bust.

Running Backs and Fullbacks

Jay Berwanger: Halfback for the University of Chicago, and winner of the first ever Heisman Trophy. He was also selected as the first ever draft pick in the NFL, but didn't play a single down professionally as he was unable to agree on a salary.

Doc Blanchard & Glenn Davis: One of the most famous running duos in the sport's history, "Mr. Inside" (Blanchard) and "Mr. Outside" (Davis) played at Army from 1944 to 1946, helping the Cadetsnote now known as Black Knights to a 27–0–1 record, with the only blemish being a famous scoreless tie against Notre Dame in 1946. They set a record for most touchdowns by a pair of teammates that lasted for over 50 years, and Davis set records for yards per carry in a season and career that stand to this day. Each won a Heisman Trophy, Blanchard in 1945 (the first junior to win) and Davis in 1946, and both are in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Tony Dorsett: A legendary three-time All-American running back for the University of Pittsburgh, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1976. Is a member of both the College and Pro Halls of Fame.

Harold Edward "Red" Grange: Was a legendary halfback for Illinois, earning the nickname "the Galloping Ghost." He was one of the first star players in college football and helped to popularize the sport, even appearing on the cover of TIME magazine in 1925. He is a member of the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. ESPN named him as the greatest college football player of all time in 2008.

Archie Griffin: Star running back for Ohio St. and, to date, the only two-time winner of the Heisman trophy. He is also the only player to ever start in four Rose Bowl games. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986. Also known for being rather undersized for the position, even by today's standards. (5'9", 182)

Bronislaw "Bronko" Nagurski: Was a legendary, Canadian born fullback for Minnesota, who also played tackle on defense. Legend has it that he was virtually impossible to tackle with the ball in his hands. He is a member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. He also made a career as a Pro Wrestler when his football career was over. The award given annually to the best defensive player in college football is named after him.

Herschel Walker: Legendary running back for Georgia in the early 1980s. He was named an All-American in each of the three years he played, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1982. Went on to have a moderately successful NFL career as well. Expect any analysis of a great college football running back to make at least one comparison to Walker.

Wide Receivers

Fred Biletnikoff: Was an All-American wide receiver for pre-Bowden Florida State and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. The award for the best receiver in college football is named for him. Also had a Hall of Fame professional career with the Oakland Raiders.

Michael Crabtree: Was a prolific receiver for Texas Tech. He set 7 NCAA receiving records for freshmen in his first season and would become the first two-time Biletnikoff Award winner.

Larry Fitzgerald: Was an All-American wide receiver for Pittsburgh and had one of the greatest seasons by any college WR in 2003. He won the Walter Camp, Chic Harley, and Biletnikoff awards and was the runner up in Heisman voting, losing to Oklahoma's Jason White by only a slim margin. It was the highest finish in Heisman voting by a sophomore up to that point. In addition to holding nearly every major school record, he also still holds the NCAA record for most consecutive games with a TD catch at 18. Went on to have an extremely successful pro career as well.

Offensive Linemen and Tight Ends

Mark May: Was an All-American offensive tackle for Pittsburgh and won the Outland Trophy in 1980. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006 and famously serves alongside Lou Holtz as an ESPN college football analyst.

Gerald Ford: Was a center and linebacker (he switched, as happened more often back then) for the Michigan Wolverines in the early 1930s. He was recruited by the Lions and Packers, but decided to go to law school instead, and ended up President of the United States.

Defensive Players

Dick Butkus: Legendary All-American linebacker for Illinois, who also played center on offense, making him one of the last great two-way players in major college football. The annual award for the nation's best linebacker is named after him. Is a member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame.

Pat Fitzgerald: All-American linebacker for Northwestern in the mid-1990s, and to date, only player to win the Dick Butkus Award twice. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008. He is the current head coach for his Alma Mater.

Special Teams

Ray Guy: Was an All-American punter for Southern Miss, and is a member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. The award given out annually to the nation's top punter is named after him.

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